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This question was submitted by Lithuanian Prison Department, Lithuania on 05/05/2017

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Responses by agency:

Are there any opportunities for inmates to be engaged into agricultural activities while serving the sentence in your country?

Yes, agricultural activities is an important activity in Danish Prison and Probation Service.
In six open prisons inmates can be engaged in agricultural activities - both farming and forestry

What kind of agricultural activities are organised for inmates ?

The inmates are offered all kind of daily work within farming and forestry
Keeping and milking cows, driving machinery in the fields, growing vegetables and seeds, maintaining green areas, making firewood etc.
Inmates also are offered different kind of vocational courses and education

The activities are organised within prison area (using available vacant plots of land) or outside prison?

The activities are organized within prison area and managed by our branch educated staff. App. 120 - 130 inmates are on daily basic participating in agricultural activities.

Does the prison have its own land?

Danish Prison and Probation Service has its own land.
App. 2.900 ha in total. Since year 2000 all land is driven ecological.

Where does the prison get seeds, plants, etc. from?

The seeds, plants etc. is purchased in the market to market price. The cost is covered by the income from selling milk, beef and other product.

How is the harvest used (for their own needs, sell, etc)?

The harvest is for some part sold in the market and some part used by ourselves for feeding cows, in the kitchens etc.

Are those activities carried out in off-season (autumn, winter)?

The activities is carried out the hole year. In the part of the year where the work in the fields is very low, the inmates is occupied with maintaining buildings, machinery, cleaning roads and areas for snow etc.

Is it a part of the resocialisation programs for inmates, or just a form of leisure activities?

Agricultural activities is a part of the resocialisation programs and it is targeted to all inmates who wish to participate. It is a attractive occupation for most inmates, but we often see that working with animals becomes vulnerable inmates well and help them open up for staff and other inmates.

Are agricultural activities open to all inmates wishing to participate?

Are there any opportunities for inmates to be engaged into agricultural activities while serving the sentence in your country?

Yes. In accordance with the law of the Republic of Latvia, inmates who are serving their sentence in investigation prison, imprisonment place or in correctional institution for juveniles, can be employed with pay or without it.
Inmates have the possibility to take part in agricultural activities while serving their sentence, i.e. be employed with pay outside the imprisonment place, for example, work on a farm, if the sentence execution regime of the inmate permits it.
Inmates also have the possibility to partake in agricultural activities while serving their sentence in the framework of projects that are being implemented by the Latvian Prison Administration. During the time period from February 3, 2014 until November 15, 2014 in the framework of the Youth International Programme Agency programme "Youth In Action" in Cesis Correctional Institution for Juveniles (hereinafter ¬– CCIJ) was implemented project "From field to harvest" (hereinafter – Project). After the Project the CCIJ established a workshop "Gardener" where every year they continue the agricultural activities that were carried out during the Project.

What kind of agricultural activities are organised for inmates ?

Imprisoned persons can only be employed without pay to maintain, tidy up and develop the surrounding area of imprisonment places.
For the inmates in CCIJ who participate in the workshop "Gardener" the following agricultural activities are organized: gardening and vegetable growing. The activities are carried out within the area of the CCIJ.

The activities are organised within prison area (using available vacant plots of land) or outside prison?

See answer to the previous question.

Does the prison have its own land?

No, imprisonment places do not have their own land.

Where does the prison get seeds, plants, etc. from?

CCIJ buys all the necessary seeds, peat and working tools in stores using the state budget means. Then, from the seeds bought in store seedlings are grown and later on planted outside and in greenhouse.

How is the harvest used (for their own needs, sell, etc)?

The harvest in CCIJ is used for presentations and for their own use.

Are those activities carried out in off-season (autumn, winter)?

The agricultural activities in CCIJ are mostly carried out in season, partly in off-season, i.e. preparing soil for the new season and in February the new seedlings are being grown from seeds.

Is it a part of the resocialisation programs for inmates, or just a form of leisure activities?

The agricultural activities in the CCIJ are a part of the inmate resocialisation programmes. The target audience of these activities are the inmates, who are imprisoned in CCIJ.

Are agricultural activities open to all inmates wishing to participate?

Yes. The agricultural activities are open to all inmates in the CCIJ who wish to participate.

Are there any opportunities for inmates to be engaged into agricultural activities while serving the sentence in your country?

The majority of prison establishments undertake some form of amenity horticulture within the prison grounds. There are currently 32 establishments with some form of commercial agriculture/ horticulture activity taking place.

What kind of agricultural activities are organised for inmates ?

There is a range of agricultural and horticultural activity across the estate, this includes some dairy and beef production, sheep and pig husbandry, forestry, field scale vegetable production, protected cropping of salad crops, conservation and amenity gardening.

The activities are organised within prison area (using available vacant plots of land) or outside prison?

The prison service uses land both inside and outside of prison establishments, currently there is approximately 315 hectares of land being used for agricultural/ horticultural activity’s outside of the prison walls.

Does the prison have its own land?

There are five establishments with external farms. The activity at these sites includes: Managing two dairy herds, three beef units, four sheep flocks, two forestry departments, four pig units, two butchery departments and a small number of farm shops selling to the general public.

Where does the prison get seeds, plants, etc. from?

Establishments are funded for their material requirements and purchase their seeds and plants from commercial outlets.

How is the harvest used (for their own needs, sell, etc)?

All food production is offered to the establishments kitchens to supplement the daily food allowance in the first instance, with any surpluses then sold commercially, usually through an establishment Farm Shop. Some establishments are large enough producers to be able to supply salad crops into the wholesale market. The timber produced from the two forestry units is sold commercially as is the milk from the two dairy units. The livestock produced is sold in local markets either as pedigree breeding stock or as fatstock, except for the two establishments with their own butchery departments.

Are those activities carried out in off-season (autumn, winter)?

Agricultural and horticultural activity take place throughout the year, where possible a mix of heated and non-heated facilities are provided (greenhouses/ polytunnels) to allow for this.
Training takes place throughout the year, with maintenance work carried out during the winter months. The range of crops grown takes into account the need for offender employment in the winter.

Is it a part of the resocialisation programs for inmates, or just a form of leisure activities?

Enabling offenders to take part in normal work activity’s has long been recognised as a key way of preparing individuals with work skills and practical experience to assist them in gaining employment upon release, which is a major factor in reducing re-offending . Land Based Activity units offer work and training (NVQ level 1 and 2) in agriculture and horticulture in a real work environment within an establishment. The mental health benefits of working in horticulture are recognised and positive outcomes for those with anti-social behaviours can be supported by the personal discipline of attending work and taking part in group activities.

Are agricultural activities open to all inmates wishing to participate?

All offenders wishing to engage in work in this area are appropriately risk assessed to do so.

Are there any opportunities for inmates to be engaged into agricultural activities while serving the sentence in your country?

Yes, there are several opportunities for inmates to be engaged in agricultural activities.

What kind of agricultural activities are organised for inmates ?

Vegetable, herb and flower growing. Also landscape gardening and construction.

The activities are organised within prison area (using available vacant plots of land) or outside prison?

All of these activities are organised within prison area (both open air fields and greenhouses).

Does the prison have its own land?

The prison has only the land under and around the prison facilities, prisons do not own any extra land.

Where does the prison get seeds, plants, etc. from?

The purchase of seeds and other necessary equipment is organised and financed either by the prison or by the vocational school who organises the horticultural studies.

How is the harvest used (for their own needs, sell, etc)?

The harvest is used by the prison kitchen, partially consumed by the inmates engaged in the agricultural activities, partially sent to an institution that feeds people with no social security (homeless). The latter is temporarily not practiced because of logistics issues.

Are those activities carried out in off-season (autumn, winter)?

During off-season there are organised preparatory short courses, or in some cases theoretical studies (lectures and workshops) last throughout the whole off-season period.

Is it a part of the resocialisation programs for inmates, or just a form of leisure activities?

It is not a part of leisure or hobby activities. In all the cases agricultural activities are part of educational programs.
It is not targeted to a particular group of inmates.

Are agricultural activities open to all inmates wishing to participate?

Participation depends on the one hand on the inmates wish and motivation but on the other hand it also needs to be approved by the prison. Approval is given to the inmates who behave well (if it is part of a motivational program) or for whom getting a vocational education is part of the inmate's resocialisation plan (we plan the activities of the prisoners' according to their risk assessment results)

Are there any opportunities for inmates to be engaged into agricultural activities while serving the sentence in your country?

Yes, there are.

What kind of agricultural activities are organised for inmates ?

Vegetable and flower growing in greenhouses, gardening, maintaining environment, field crop growing (cereals, grassland etc), animal husbandry. So called green care activities in small areas is a new but growing concept.

The activities are organised within prison area (using available vacant plots of land) or outside prison?

Agricultural and horticultural works are organized within prison area. Maintaining environment is organized both in prison area and outside prison area in national parks etc

Does the prison have its own land?

Prisons do not own any of their premises (buildings or land). Consequently prisons do not own agricultural land either. Prisons pay rent to a state owned company for their premises.

Where does the prison get seeds, plants, etc. from?

Agriculture and horticulture are included in prison work, they are prison workshops. The cost of prison work and income from the products are part of prison’s budget. Environmental works in natural parks etc. are also financed by prisons with a specially allocated money for that purpose.

How is the harvest used (for their own needs, sell, etc)?

The harvest is mostly sold in a normal way.

Are those activities carried out in off-season (autumn, winter)?

Activities are carried out all year round but number of employed prisoners is somewhat smaller during wintertime than during summertime. Green care programs are held in summertime.

Is it a part of the resocialisation programs for inmates, or just a form of leisure activities?

It is part of work programs for inmates. Green care programs can be leisure time activities, too.

Are agricultural activities open to all inmates wishing to participate?

In principle yes but some prisoners are assessed not fit for outside activities as there is less control.

Are there any opportunities for inmates to be engaged into agricultural activities while serving the sentence in your country?

Yes, Prisoner employment in Hungary has a century long tradition. They can work at limited companies. There are twelve limited companies dedicated to prisoner employment, out of these four are agricultural limited companies.

The activities are organised within prison area (using available vacant plots of land) or outside prison?

The activities are organised on parcels belonging to the limited companies cropproduction is carried out on outside locations and livestock raising is carried out in closed farms and barns.

Does the prison have its own land?

The prisons do not have their own land as they belong to the limited companies.

Where does the prison get seeds, plants, etc. from?

Seeds, plants, etc. are purchased from limited company budget.

How is the harvest used (for their own needs, sell, etc)?

One part is used for the livestock, the other part is sold on the market. Some limited companies process their own livestock and the meat is sold for the prisons in the framework of internal procurement.

Are those activities carried out in off-season (autumn, winter)?

Qualified gardener and baker vocational trainings are held continuously.
Employment within livestock raising is continous and is based and sesonal crop production with supplementary employment alternatives during the off season.
The prison participate in edication as well (forklift, crane operator).

Is it a part of the resocialisation programs for inmates, or just a form of leisure activities?

Yes, it forms a part of the activities aimed at free integration.
There are no pre-determined target groups.

Are agricultural activities open to all inmates wishing to participate?

Yes, all those prisoners whose security classification and health is adequate for participation in such activities.